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Gamma/X-ray linear pushbroom stereo for 3D cargo inspection

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Abstract

For evaluating the contents of trucks, containers, cargo, and passenger vehicles by a non-intrusive gamma-ray or X-ray imaging system to determine the possible presence of contraband, three-dimensional (3D) measurements could provide more information than just 2D measurements. In this paper, a linear pushbroom scanning model is built for such a commonly used gamma-ray or X-ray cargo inspection system. Three-dimensional (3D) measurements of the objects inside a cargo can be obtained by effectively constructing a pushbroom stereo system using two such scanning systems with different scanning angles. A simple but robust calibration method is proposed to find the important parameters of the linear pushbroom sensors. Then, a fast stereo matching algorithm is developed to obtain 3D measurements of the objects under inspection. This algorithm is fully automatic based on free-form deformable registration. An interactive user interface is designed for 3D visualization of the objects of interest. Using the interactive tool, the automatic algorithm is also compared with a very simple semi-automatic algorithm based on point correlation. Experimental results of sensor calibration, stereo matching, 3D measurements and visualization of a 3D cargo container, and the objects inside, are presented.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, The City College of New York/CUNY, Convent Avenue, 138th Street, New York, NY, 10031, USA

    Zhigang Zhu

  2. PhD Program in Computer Science, The CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, USA

    Zhigang Zhu & Yu-Chi Hu

  3. Department of Medical Physics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, 10021, USA

    Yu-Chi Hu

  4. PhD Program in Economics, The CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, USA

    Li Zhao

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  1. Zhigang Zhu
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  2. Yu-Chi Hu
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  3. Li Zhao
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Correspondence to Zhigang Zhu.

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Zhu, Z., Hu, YC. & Zhao, L. Gamma/X-ray linear pushbroom stereo for 3D cargo inspection. Machine Vision and Applications 21, 413–425 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00138-008-0173-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00138-008-0173-8

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